Learning English

6 Minute Vocabulary

Ordinal numbers tell us the position of something in a group. They are used for:

Dates
It's the twelfth of November

The order of events
Her fiftieth birthday

Position in space
Our apartment's on the first floor
It's the third on the right.

Order of quality
The first prize in the competition

We usually form ordinal numbers by adding -th to cardinal numbers:
four - fourth

first, second and third are irregular forms.

fifth, eighth, ninth, twelfth and numbers ending in -y have irregular spellings: twentieth

We say dates with the and of:
the eighth of April
April the eighth

But we don't write them like that. We write them as:
8th April
April 8th
8 April

first, second and third have the irregular suffixes 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

We usually use the definite article the with ordinal numbers:
on the third day
It was the first time I've ever been to France.

But sometimes we use possessives:
my thirtieth birthday
Julia's second child 

Ordinal numbers are also used as adjectives and adverbs without the or a possessive adjective.

Session 3

hot desking
working at any available desk in the office

a trial period
an amount of time to try out an idea

to lead by example
to behave in a way that you would expect others to

ground rules
the basic rules that everyone needs to follow

unstuck
doesn't work/fails

Session 4

open-plan offices
offices that have large rooms with few or no dividing walls to make smaller rooms

collaborate
work together

downside
disadvantage

disruptive
causing trouble so that others cannot continue what they are doing

abused
treated badly

draw
attraction that lots of people are interested in

get away with 
escape punishment for

for the time being
now; at the moment

gripes
complaints

personal hygiene
keeping your body clean

etiquette
a set of rules that control behaviour in certain situations and by certain groups

air your grievances
tell people about your complaints

inane
stupid and boring

irrelevant
not important

maintain
keep

dignity
state of keeping your respect

influence
affect

alternative
other option

Drama

sacks
large strong bags that are used to store things

disturb
to upset badly

storm out
leave a room quickly and angrily

rumour
information or a story that people talk about but that may not be true

threaten
tell someone you will hurt them

ponies (singular: pony)
small horses

drown
die under water because you can't breathe

chills me to the bone
frightens me very much